Patriots' Butler 'an average guy' who's playing better than that

Rookie free agent Malcolm Butler is impressing with his play at cornerback this summer.

Glen Farley The Enterprise @GFarley_ent

FOXBORO – Malcolm Butler describes himself as “just an average guy.”He certainly didn’t look like it Thursday night.

In a game filled with more than its share of lows, Butler was a highlight for the Patriots in their 23-6 preseason-opening loss to the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field.

“It’s good,” fellow cornerback Darrelle Revis said of Butler. “It’s a work in progress, but at the same time he’s doing great.”

Whether that will be enough to crack the team’s 53-man roster remains to be seen, but there isn’t any doubt the 5-foot-11, 190-pounder has made great strides since May 19 when he signed with the Patriots as a rookie free agent out of West Alabama.

Butler made six tackles and broke up two passes on defense and added another stop on special teams in the Patriots’ loss to the Redskins.

For an encore, he offered up an interception of Tom Brady during Monday’s practice.

“It was an honor to pick off one of the greatest quarterbacks, Tom Brady, but (I’m) just doing anything to make the team better,” said Butler, who added another interception at the expense of G.J. Kinne during Tuesday’s joint practice with the Philadelphia Eagles on the fields behind Gillette Stadium. “That’s all that matters.”

After totaling 94 tackles, seven interceptions and 27 passes defensed in 25 games over two years at West Alabama (transferring there from Mississippi’s Hinds Community College), Butler didn’t hear his name called over the three days of this year’s NFL draft.

“It just made me have like a chip on my shoulder,” said Butler. “I know guys were getting looks before me and things like that. It turned out well so I have no reason to complain about this.”

Still, Butler admitted, “It’s been a tough journey coming from Division 2. They really don’t get too much publicity, but I’m just glad I’m here now.”

Butler received some undesirable notoriety Thursday night when he drew a personal foul for hitting Redskins wide receiver Ryan Grant out of bounds following a 6-yard gain, but the good easily outweighed the bad for him in that game.

While adding the (seemingly) obligatory “still has a long way to go,” Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said Monday that Butler’s “gotten better on a daily basis.”

“He’s been doing well,” agreed Revis, who described Butler as “a sponge.”

“He’s been improving and just working hard every day. It’s good that we can have depth in the secondary and he’s been stepping up, but at the same time we’ve still got to improve as a whole as a secondary.”

If he can maintain his level of play to this point in the summer, Butler could make for a difficult decision at a cornerback position, where the Patriots went outside the organization during the offseason to add veterans Revis and Brandon Browner (who will open the season serving a four-game suspension for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy) to holdovers Kyle Arrington, Alfonzo Dennard and Logan Ryan.

“I’m just a normal guy, just an average guy (that) just loves to play football,” said Butler. “That’s pretty much (it). (I’m) just coming in here trying to help the New England Patriots and myself also.”

Glen Farley may be reached at gfarley@enterprisenews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @GFarley_ent.